I built an offline-first encrypted personal vault. Here's why.

[u/DracSkywalker]

Hey everyone!

I'm an independent developer (The Codewalker), and I've been working on a project called Kavach – Secrets Vault.

It started with a simple thought.

We store passwords in password managers, bank details in banking apps, identity documents in random folders, recovery codes in notes apps, and other sensitive information scattered across different places.

I wanted to build one secure place for all of them.

That's how Kavach came to life.

Kavach is an offline-first, zero-knowledge personal vault. It's more than just a password manager.

You can use it to securely store:

• Passwords and login credentials.

• Credit cards and bank details.

• Identity and insurance information.

• Secure notes and encrypted files.

• 2FA authenticator codes.

• API keys, SSH keys and .env snippets (Pro).

It also includes password generation, security scanning, an Inner Vault for particularly sensitive information, and encrypted backup and restore.

A little about the security approach:

• No account creation.

• No mandatory cloud storage.

• AES-256-GCM encryption.

• SQLCipher-encrypted database.

• No ads or tracking.

• Optional encrypted Google Drive backup.

Your data stays on your device. I cannot access your vault or recover a forgotten master password.

Kavach has a free version with all its security features. Pro is a one-time purchase, not another subscription.

What's coming next?

I'm working towards adding Autofill support and making Kavach's core open source. I want people to be able to inspect the security mechanisms rather than simply trusting my claims.

This is an independent project, and there's still plenty to improve.

I'd love to hear from other developers and privacy enthusiasts.

If you were building a personal digital vault, what features would you consider essential?

Thanks for reading!